Sun Solaris on its Deathbed – Claims Jim Zemlin

byVivek GiteonSeptember 25, 2008

Jim Zemlin is executive director of the Linux Foundation claims Solaris UNIX is irrelevant and Linux is future. From the article:

Linux is enjoying growth, with a contingent of devotees too large to be called a cult following at this point. Solaris, meanwhile, has thrived as a longstanding, primary Unix platform geared to enterprises.

Sun officials believe the 16-year-old Solaris platform remains a pivotal, innovative platform. But at the Linux Foundation, there is a no-conciliatory stance; the attitude there is to tell Solaris and Sun to move out of the way. "The future is Linux and Microsoft Windows," says foundation Executive Director Jim Zemlin. "It is not Unix or Solaris."

Sure Linux has great value but Solaris has its own market share. They make great OS with good features such as DTrace, ZFS and many more. Many government and defense project selects Solaris for Database and many mission critical applications, while Linux used for Web, mail and proxy services.

I really dont see the point in Solaris any more. Years ago you chose a solid Unix platform like Solaris for it’s enterprise reliability and availability of software either off the shelf or even with the O/S it’s self. These days, Linux has eclipsed the expectations of all areas of what it originally set out to do and proves to be worthy enterprise class Unix-like operating system. People who use solaris just don’t like change, they haven’t worked out yet that Linux is just as stable and has just the same great software, but for generally no cost. It’s a slow migration, and it won’t be overnight, but Solaris is finished. I talk to new Linux admins about solaris these days and they just curl up their noses with disgust. Nobody likes it apart from the old-school. It’s time to move on.

Linux admins about solaris these days and they just curl up their noses… i dont think so… i am linux admin and i am slowly moving to solaris 10… it happened few times LVM crashed without reason, but nothing like that happened in ZFS… and mainly, DTrace is too good to not to use it… and doesnt matter if its on solaris or leopard… its about tools, not a label of OS… oh,yeah.. maybe u dont like solaris cant play movies… :)

Anyone who thinks that linux is a drop-in replacement for solaris clearly doesn’t understand either one different markets, different tools. they could be MADE to do each other’s job, but at great cost and great investment in future maintenance